Airship



Nov. 23 1926.

B. N. WALLIS AIRSHIP Filed Jpne 2. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 23 1926.

B. N. WALLIS AIRSHIP Filed June 2. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 23,1926.1,608,230

B. N. WALLIS AIRSHIP Filed June 2. 1925 3 S 6 heat 3 w wmnmwiug,

Patented Nov. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BARNES NEVILLE WALLIS, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLANDQASSIGNOR TO AIR-SHIP GUARANTEE COMPANY LIMITED, OF WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND, A BRITISHCOMPANY.

AIRSI-III.

Application filed June 2, 1925, Serial No. 34,319, and Great BritainJune 12, 1924.

This invention relates to airships. I

According to the present invention, 1nstead of locating the main loads,such as the cars or coaches for the passengers and crew so that they aresituated, or project outslde the streamline of the airship,we locatethem within the streamline or outer envelope thereof and thereby avoidthe wind resistance offered by the projecting structures hitherto used.To this end the cars or coaches forming the said main loads may besuspended from one of the upper longitudinal girders, usually at thepoints where the said girder joins the'transverse frames, and locatedsymmetrically on each side of the airship within spaces formed betweenthe outer envelope of the airship and the hydrogen gas bags.Communication may also be established between the nose and tail of theairship and the said cars or coaches by means of corridors disposedlongitudinally of=the airship and suspended on each side thereof betweenthe outer envelope and the gas bags. Communication may also beestablished be tween the cars or coaches disposed respectively on eachside of the airship or between the aforesaid longitudinally disposedcorridors by means of transversely positioned staircases formedpreferably Within the transverse frames, the latter, to this end, beingconstituted by built-up space frame girders which are preferablytriangular in cross section.

The hydrogen gas bags contiguous to the cars or coaches may be speciallyshaped to provide the requisiteadditional space taken up by the cars orcoaches.

In order to. avoid close contact between the hydrogen gas'bags andtheinside walls of the said cars or coaches which might give rise to anelement of danger by reason of the close proximity of the gas and itspossible escape into the quarters ,for the passengers and crew, we maycover the inside wall of the cars or coaches with a layer of'materialwhich is impervious or substantially impervious to hydrogen and we mayalso leave a substantial space between the said inside walls and theadjacent gas bags, (formed, for example, by a light girder-workstructure projecting from the inside walls of the cars or coaches),which space, or which girder-work structure, may also be enclosed by V alayer of .material which is impervious or substantially impervious tohydrogen. Suitable means may also be provided for creating a current ofair through said space so as to set up a circulation of fresh airtherein which will effectually prevent the accumulation of any escapinggas that. may enter said space. For this purpose we may provide at oneend of the enclosed space a scoop, the open end of which may face thedirection of-travel of the airship so as to direct a current of freshexternal air into said space when the airship is in motion. A similarscoop may be provided at or near the other or rearward end of said spaceand facing in the opposite direction to enable the current of air toleave said space and a continuous flow of fresh air to take place.

In orderthat the said inventionmay'be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect the same will now be described more fully withreference .to the accompanying drawing, which shows more or lessdiagrammatically one embodiment of the invention, and in which:-

,Figure lis an elevation of an airship constructed according to thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the cars or coaches on-an enlargedscale. the outer wall or envelope being removed to show more clearly theinternal structure of the said cars or coaches.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, with the outer Wallof the car or coach in position.

Figure 4 is a sectional plan view of the contiguous ends of two coachesshowing their disposition on each side of one ofthe transverseframes thesection being taken on the roof level of the coaches.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic elevation of the front part of the airshipshowing in dotted lines the position of the coaches; the cables forsuspending the same from one of the longitudinal girders, as also theventilating scoops.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view showing the symmetricaldisposition of the coaches on each side of theairship;

their suspension means as also the space provided between the gas bagsand the coaches for the circulation of air.

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing more clearly theventilating passage located between the coaches and the gas bags. 7 A

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic sectional view ofone of the coaches, showingthe light girder-work structure which serves to separate the coachesfrom the contiguous gas bags, and a Figure 9 is a face view of part ofFigure 8-. i U

Figure 10 shows a modified arrangement in which the car or coaches aredisposed low down within the streamline of the airship between the keelthereof and one of the gas bags and extending from side to side of theairship. i i

Figure 11 is a part sectional elevation of Figure 10, the outer cover ofthe airship being removed to show the interior-of the cars or coaches. I

Figure 12 is a longitudinal section of the front part of the airshipshowing the corridors by means of which access is obtained to the car orcoaches shown Figures 10 and 11. r i

l igure 13 is a diagrammatic plan viewof the corridor shown at Figure12, and

Figure id is a section showing the method of suspending the saidcorridors from the upper longitudinal frames.

A, A are the longitudinal frames; B, B are the transverseframes; C, Care the gas bags; D, D the outer envelope or streamline of the airship.The gas bags C, C, as shown at Figures 6 and 7, are specially shaped atC to provide the requisite additional space for the coaches or cars l3E, the latterbeing disposed symmetrically on each side of the airshipwithin the space formed between the outer envelope 1), D, and the gasbags C, C. Four coaches E, E, are shown disposed in pairs on each sideof the airship, each, coach E being positioned between a pair oftransverse frames B, B, and apair of longitudinal girders A, A. Eachcoach, which has an upper deck 0, and a lower decke is built up of alight open metal framework, and is slung or suspended from oneof thelongitudinal girders A by means of cables F, F, as shown more clearly atFigures 5, 6 and 8.

G (Figures 1, 2, 3 and a is a corridor one of which is provided on eachside of the airship and which extends longitudinallyfrom the nose to thetail thereof. The said corri dor, which may be slung or suspended fromone of the longitudinal girders and located between gas bags and theouter cover .or envelope D of the airship, is placed in communicationwith the interior of the coaches by means of staircases e 6 The coachesare provided with windows 6 c and cornand the gas bags C.

cation No. 2116 of 1924:.- His the space which is providedbetweentheicoaches E, E, it, h are the inlets to said space H, and it72. are the outlets; it will be understood that the said space extendsthe whole length of said coaches, I (Figures 8 and 9) is the lightstructural framework attachedto the topl,inner wall,

and bottom of the coaches, and it is covered vious or relative yimpervious to hydrogen, a similar layer of material being preferablyalso located around the coaches at J (Fig ures and The mesh wiring Kwhich surrounds the gas bags is attached at I 1 to the framework 1;

Referring'to Figures 10 to 14 it will be observer that in thisembodiment of the invention the car or coaches for the passengers andcrew are located low down in the airship between one of the gas bags andthe keel of the ship, the coaches extending from side to side of theairship and being disposed between contiguous transverse frames K, K T(Figure 11). Any desired number of floors may be provided three beingshown byway of example namely, the lowerfloor L, a middle floor L: and atop floor If; an additional floor L indicated indotted lines on theright hand side of Figure 10, may also be provided on each side of theairship. The coaches as before are suspended from the longitudinalframes by suspension wires M, M,one method of suspension being shown onthe right hand side of Figure 10 and an alternative suspension systembeing shown on theleft hand side of the same figure. The windows N, N,asbefore are formed in the outer cover and access to the differentfloors is obtained by means of staircases O, O. The coaches asbefore-are also separated from the gas bag located above the same bymeans of a light girder-work structure P and the coaches, as also thesaidg'irder-work structure P may be lined with a inaterial which isimpermeable or relatively impermeable to hydrogen. In this embodiment ofthe invention access to the coaches is obtained by means of a pair ofcorridors Q, Q} 10- cated centrally of the ship towards the keel thereofand extending from the nose of the airship to theentrance R to the saidcoaches. The said corridors are suspended frointhe upper transverseframes bymeans of sus pension wires R R and a light girderthe purpose ofseparating the gas bags from bva layer J of a material which is imperthesaid corridors, the gas bags themselves being adapted to straddle thesaid corridors and the girder-work structure R disposed around the same.Two corridors are preferably provided as shown one corridor Q being usedas an entrance to the coaches and the corridor Q being employed as anexit therefrom.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis 1. An airship comprising gas bags, an outer envelope surroundingsaidgas bags, coaches disposed between said gas bags and said outer coverand means separating said coaches from said gas bags so as to leave anair space between the gas bags and the inner walls of said coaches.

2. An airship as claimed in claim 1, in

which means are provided for promoting a circulation of air within thespace left between the inner walls of the coaches and the gas bags.

3. An airship comprising gas bags an outer envelope surrounding said gasbags, coaches disposed between said gas bags and said outer cover, and alight girderwork structure spacing apart said coaches from said gasbags.

4. An airship comprising gas bags, an outer cover surrounding said gasbags, coaches disposed between said gas bags, and said outer cover,means spacing apart said. coaches from said gas bags, and means forpromoting a circulation of air within the the space left between the gasbags and the inner walls of the coaches.

5. An airship as claimed is claim 3 in which the light girderworkstructure is covered with a material which is impervious orsubstantially impervious to hydrogen.

6. An airship comprising gas bags, an outer envelope surrounding saidgas bags, coaches disposed between said gas bags and said outer cover, acovering material for the inside walls of said coaches, said materialbeing impervious or relatively impervious to hydrogen, and means spacingapart said coaches from said gas bags.

7. An airship comprising gas bags, an

outer envelope surrounding said gas bags, coaches disposed between saidgas bags and said outer cover, a material impervious or relativelyimpervious to hydrogen surrounding the inner walls of said coaches, alight girderwork structure spacing apart said coaches from said gasbags, and a covering material for said light girderwork structure, saidmaterial being impervious or relatively impervious to hydrogen.

8. An airship comprising transverse frames constituted by built-up spaceframe girders, gas bags, an outer cover surrounding said gas bags,coaches disposed between said gas bags and said outer cover, andstaircases in said transverse frames for establishing communicationbetween said coaches.

9. An airship comprising a rigid framework, gas bags disposed withinsaid rigid frameworlgan outer cover surrounding said gas bags, coachesdisposed between said bags and said outer cover, and means forsuspending said coaches from said vrigid framework.

BARNES NEVILLE \VALLIS.

